


Darcy's First Robot

by Illusinia



Series: Darcy Stark Series [11]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Father!Tony - Freeform, Gen, Mother!Pepper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-03
Updated: 2013-03-03
Packaged: 2017-12-04 04:08:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/706370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Illusinia/pseuds/Illusinia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper is so banning all science fiction films until Darcy is 12.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Darcy's First Robot

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came from this image on twitter: 
> 
> https://twitter.com/_ClintBarton_/status/292381739953827840/photo/1

Tony wasn't really sure what he was looking at. Which was strange, given he was in _his_ workshop. Then again, so was his daughter. “Darcy, what is that?”

 

“It's a droid,” replied Darcy, her head turning to look up at her father. Grease smeared her face and fingers, making the 8 year old look like a grease monkey. She had a dome-shaped frame work set up in front of her and a mass of wires hanging down through the center. Each set was clipped together to make them recognizable and probably allow for easy assembly. There were no circuit boards in place yet, but Tony had a feeling it was only a matter of time before those appeared.

 

“Huh,” replied Tony, not completely sure what to do at this point. He knew Pepper would have a cow about this when she got home, but he was honestly feeling kinda proud. She'd probably also permanently ban Star Wars marathons in the house. Well, at least try to. “So, which droid is it?”

 

“R2D2,” replied Darcy a little sadly. “I thought about building C3PO, but I didn't know where to get the language software from.”

 

“Well, we can build C3PO next,” suggested Tony as he folded himself on the ground next to Darcy. “But first, let's finish your R2D2. What do you still have to do?”

 

Darcy's eyes lit up as she rapidly started to explain her project to her father and everything she had left to do.

 

\--------------------------------------

 

Pepper sighed as she entered the Malibu house, dropping her bag by the door. “Tony, Darcy, I'm home!” Silence met her call, which was more than a little worrying for Pepper. The last time she arrived home to silence, there had also been a crater in the backyard. Glancing out the window to ensure there was no massive hole where something else should be (like the entire backyard), she was relieved to note that everything was in place. “Jarvis?”

 

“Yes, Pepper?” replied the British-sounding AI.

 

“Jarvis, where are Tony and Darcy?” asked Pepper curiously. Then, with some concern, she added: “Tony didn't fly them out to New York again for ice cream, right?”

 

“Both Tony and Darcy are currently in the workshop,” directed Jarvis. “They appear to be working on what Tony has deemed a 'father-daughter project'.”

 

Groaning, Pepper dropped against the window ledge, one hand rising to rub at the bridge of her nose. “Do I want to know?”

 

“Dummy has not needed to use his fire extinguisher,” offered Jarvis. Somehow, the AI had managed to learn what 'distressed' Pepper sounded like and at least tried to sooth her. She was pretty sure Tony had programed that little feature in to keep her from worrying too badly. Not that it helped.

 

“At least the fire extinguisher hasn't been out,” muttered Pepper before pushing away from the window and heading for the stairs down. “Thank you, Jarvis.”

 

“You're welcome, Pepper,” replied the AI before he fell silent.

 

Sighing, Pepper started down the stairs and tried to figure out what kind of a 'project' Tony might be working on with Darcy. She doubted it was something like a hand print turkey or a decorative stepping stone. No, that would be too easy.

 

No matter what her nightmares were though, Pepper hadn't been expecting what she came face to face with a moment later. All science fiction movies were banned from any Stark house until Darcy was 12 and possibly when Tony managed to finally grow up. She was adding it to the house rules immediately. Still...it was pretty cool.

 

Keying into the workshop, Pepper found herself face to face with a red and gold R2D2. She was going to guess the red and gold bit was Darcy's doing. Or Tony's. The man had a strange obsession with bright colors. Then again, flashy was a Stark trademark. One she really hoped Darcy wouldn't inherit.

 

“Hi Mommy!” called Darcy from her place next to what looked like a human-shaped robot that looked a lot like C3PO without external casing. The little girl nearly jumped from her place on the floor to run at Pepper, grabbing one of the assistant's hands and dragging her towards the device. “Look what Daddy's helping me make!”

 

Tony looked up as well, grinning proudly from ear to ear. “Check it out Pep, Darcy built her first invention!” However, he withered a little under Pepper's glare, refocusing on soldering together two pieces of metal.

 

“That's very impressive Darcy,” replied Pepper with a soft smile. “Did he help you build the other robot as well?”

 

“They aren't robots, Mommy,” objected Darcy. “They're _droids_.”  
  


Pepper gave her daughter a soft smile and knelt beside both the little girl and her genius father. “My mistake.” She glanced at Tony, who was currently fiddling with several wires, before continuing. “So was this your father's idea or yours?”

 

“Mine,” stated Darcy happily. Pointing at the R2D2 look alike, she explained cheerily, “I was building R2D2 because I couldn't work out how to build the language software, but Daddy said he could help. So we finished R2D2 and then started building C3PO.”

 

Nodding, Pepper turned her attention to Tony. “Very interesting. So, your father helped you build both robots- excuse me, _droids_ from scratch?”

 

“Well, Daddy helped me finish R2D2,” elaborated Darcy. “I had him mostly done when Daddy found me. But he's been showing me how to do the language software stuff so next time I can build C3PO on my own too!”

 

“Great,” muttered Pepper, attempting to keep the groan out of her voice. Darcy was oblivious to her mother's lack of excitement though, picking up a screw driver and refocusing on whatever she'd been doing when Pepper came in. “Tony, can I speak with you?”

 

Wincing slightly, Tony turned off the soldering iron and stood. “Just keep securing the wiring Darce, and don't touch the soldering iron while I'm gone.”

 

“Yes Daddy,” agreed Darcy absently, attention already refocused on what she is doing.

 

Not waiting for Tony to stall further, Pepper nearly dragged him through the lab door and into the hall. “Really Tony?”

 

“What?” replied Tony with a touch of a pout. “She already had R2D2 mostly put together. Besides, what harm is there in encouraging her mechanical interests.”

 

“Tony, she's 8,” pointed out Pepper. “She was talking about being a veterinarian last week.”

 

“Yes, because she thinks animals should have prostheses too,” reminded Tony. Pepper groaned. “C'mon Pep. She's not hurting anyone. And as soon as I realized what she was doing, I immediately started supervising her. She hasn't used anything with the word 'flame' or associated with the words 'flame', 'caustic', or 'acidic' unsupervised since I found her.”

 

“And before?” prodded Pepper, suspecting the answer was yes.

 

Tony's eyes darted about a little nervously. “Um, I'm not sure. But! But as soon as I found her-”

 

“-you started supervising,” finished Pepper with a sigh. For a moment, she watched Darcy work at her invention and idly dreamed of what it would be like if Tony was marginally _normal_. The idea made her shudder. Yes, Tony was an ass, but at least he had a good reason. Technically, he probably _was_ better than everyone else. And his daughter wasn't likely to be any different. Smiling slightly, she turned back to Tony, who looked like a child wondering if they were about to get punished or let off the hook. “They are pretty cool robots.”

 

“Droids,” reminded Tony with a smirk. “Yeah, they are pretty cool.” Turning towards Darcy, the proud grin returned to Tony's face. “You know, I'm really proud of her, Pep.”

 

“I know you are Tony,” assured Pepper with a smile. “I'm still banning science fiction movies until she's 12 though.”

 

Tony winced, but didn't argue. “Yeah, I figured as much. Probably not a bad call.”

 

Pepper just nodded.


End file.
